Before the question, I realize that we aren’t doctors and those who are aren’t supposed to give advice. What I am looking for here is ideas.
I crave salt. No, I CRAVE salt, and have for most of my adult life. I actually put some on my palm and lick it off, and I “oversalt” pretty much everything I eat. Apparently I need it for some reason - my blood pressure is fine. Anyone have any ideas as to why this is, and if it’s a problem?
Thanks!
Do you drink pickle brine, too? I am serious.
Still, if it’s a life-long thing, and your BP is okay, probably nothing to worry about. That said, salt craving like you describe - licking salt off your palm - is suggestive of Addison’s Disease, more correctly termed adrenal insufficiency(or, possibly, a biosynthetic defect in aldosterone).
Of course, I do not think you have adrenal insufficiency having survived untreated for years. Maybe some (relative) aldosterone problem? What’s your potassium level?
Still, it would make a fair consult question to a (knowledgeable) endocrinologist.
I have no idea why you crave salt to that extent but the notion that sodium consumption is bad for you has been thoroughly debunked:
No, the only salty thing I drink are margaritas! 
Hmm, I do have a few of the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency…
No idea. Is that something that would be routinely checked?
I respectfully beg to differ. I survived for almost 10 years with undiagnosed Addision’s Disease. It was miserable – no one could figure out what was wrong with me – but I survived it.
By all means, consult an indocrinologist or, like I finally had to do, a reputable and knowledgeable naturopatic doctor. Your garden variety MD isn’t going to help at all.
And, yes, I do sometimes sip pickle brine, and the liquid from canned olives. 
You describe me. I walk past the salt shaker and pour a bit in my hand. I salt foods o I can taste the salt. I love pickle brine, saukraut etc. I just love salt.
The truth is more complicated than that; here is a review of one of those studies you mention (the JAMA study in Scientific American) and the numerous flaws it has. Some people may have a need for more sodium for whatever reason, but in general people eat too much; of course, there are also studies that show the ratio of sodium to potassium is more important (but that still isn’t an excuse to eat high-sodium foods):
Maybe this is also a factor in those studies that claim more salt reduces mortality, since perhaps the saltier foods used potassium chloride in addition to sodium chloride (note that both of these are technically “salt”, although most food labels will list NaCl as salt and KCl as potassium chloride).
FWIW, personal anecdotes like “I eat lots of sodium but have normal BP”) are similar to those who claim they feel fine despite smoking a pack a day for most of their life (not everybody is going to get the diseases associated with them).
Very often it is, as part of what are called “electrolytes” or on a SMA-6 panel (I’m not certain if that’s what you call it in the states). In any case, I wouldn’t specifically seek to get it measured if you haven’t already had it done incidentally already - I was just curious; by itself, in the absence of other tests, it’s not really helpful in this situation.
I agree that adrenal insufficiency is a difficult diagnosis to make if only because the symptoms are very, very non-specific and overlap in almost every way with garden variety harmless aches and pains, fatigue, etc.
However, it is precisely because the symptoms are so non-specific and so common (virtually everyone has some of the symptoms of adrenal insufficiency some of the time), that the diagnosis is often seized upon without good justification by both doctors and patients. People want to blame their fatigue on something; they want to attribute their malaise to an illness instead of acknowledging that they eat/sleep poorly, never exercise, etc. So, because it seems to explain so much, people are diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency. And, frankly, without a cite, it is my belief that such diagnoses are more likely to be made by naturopaths and other alternative practitioners (with the treatment often, in turn, based on “natural” remedies). YMMV. None of this means that you do or don’t have the disease - I am speaking in generalities and obviously am not commenting on your health, diagnosis, or doctor.
What’s amazing about this critique is that the flaws mentioned (unreliable measurement of sodium intake, failure to account for key factors that influence sodium intake and heart disease risk, etc.) apply just as well to all of the crappy studies that have suggested sodium restriction to be beneficial.
The fact remains that sodium excretion does not predict hypertension and that low-salt diets are associated with excess mortality, insulin resistance, higher plasma levels of renin and triglycerides, and cardiovascular disease.
More info on the flawed science of salt restriction can be found here:
I don’t know who this is in response to but I made no such claims.
I’d happily lick a salt block, too. No adrenal insufficiency here, but I have perpetually low blood pressure. My doctor’s best guess is an excessive need for electrolyte replacement since my chosen form of exercise results in a severe loss via sweating.
What about PMS salt craving, any medical reason?
Do you look like this?
http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=yfp-t-701&va=Star+Trek+Salt+Vampire
Try not to take too much. And don’t leave red blotches on the faces of your victims.
Just curious but do you sweat a lot? I have kind of an aversion to salt, if I can remotely taste salt I can’t eat the food. I do lightly salt food but not to where I can taste it. I don’t sweat unless humidity and temp are close to 100 and I am working very hard.
What about studies like this one, which used chimpanzees put on an diet simulating a typical Western diet in term of salt intake; the correlation between blood pressure and sodium is pretty damning, rising with intake and falling after cessation. Yes, chimps aren’t humans, but are much more related than rats, as used in some other studies. Or does this mean that high blood pressure isn’t as bad as it is made out to be, supposedly a major risk factor for heart disease and strokes, as mentioned in the following link (never mind the studies that have linked excess sodium intake to heart disease even with normal blood pressure)? There’s also still the advice about increasing potassium intake, and many high-sodium foods replace potassium-rich foods.
Also, it was **curlcoat **who made the statement about normal blood pressure despite their high salt intake.
Dude believe me you don’t really have an “aversion” to salt. Modern western food is salty anyway, you would find almost all of it inedible. And the fact that you lightly salt food says it all.
I only salt potato products and I LIKE salt!
I know someone personally whose Addison’s Disease was diagnosed by a “garden variety MD”. He remembered a case of it he’d seen back in medical school. The craving for salt was what tipped him off.
The diagnosis was confirmed with a blood test, and the patient was referred to an endocrinologist for further treatment.
This is not at all surprising when you consider how miniscule the impact of sodium intake is on blood pressure in humans. Here’s what the prestigious Cochrane Review found:
Do you like anchovies? Years ago I worked in an Italian restaurant. I had a customer who came in every single Wednesday by himself and ordered a medium pepperoni anchovy pizza and a beer. I was tempted to just sit down with him one day and say, “So, what’s your story?” Anyway, anchovies (if you are fond of them) would be a great way to take care of that craving for at least…a couple of days, no?
HAHAHAHAHA! I’d forgotten about that one.
No, I don’t really sweat enough actually, I think because I don’t retain water. So like you, I don’t tend to sweat unless its hot and humid, and I’m working hard.
I am going to try to get into the dr after I get home from Denverton. I really appreciate the tips guys!
Uh, no anchovies are ick! 
I apologize. I realized after reading this response that I had been unfair to the garden variety MDs.
What caused my Addison’s was the unfortunate double-whammy of chemotherapy and a pheocromacytoma, a type of non-metastasizing but **often fatal **tumor which are often located in the adrenal glands. It was the diagnosis of the “pheo” (as I affectionately call it) that the garden variety MDs didn’t make. I had that bloody thing for 8 years (!!) and reported my symptoms – heart palpatations, sudden lowering of blood pressure, nausea, overall weakness, fainting – to numerous doctors over that timespan. Every one of them shrugged and said that the symptoms were probably just a harmless side effect of another medication, either an antidepressant or thyroid med. Not a single one expressed any concern or referred me to a specialist.
The pheo was discovered completely by accident. I had a CT scan because they thought my cancer had metastatsized to my lungs. It hadn’t, but the pheo – the size of a large lemon – showed up clearly. I was able to determine how long I’d had it by how long I’d been suffering the symptoms, because as soon as it was discovered and my doctor starting me on meds to shrink it prior to surgically removing it, the symptoms disappeared.
So, yes an MD could very likely correctly diagnose Addison’s. I just never asked one about my mulitple post-pheo symptoms because I’d lost all faith in them.
Blood pressure aside (and why is hypertension so common anyway if not for some common factor affecting the majority of the population, although Wikipedia says there is no known cause for most cases), what about the other associations I mentioned, such as increased heart disease risk even with normal BP (which in turn can lead to hypertension as arteries lose elasticity, if not directly from the sodium)? There are also links to stomach cancer and excessive salt intake. There is also the sodium-potassium link, which while not purely related to sodium intake, suggests that we eat too much sodium (which again often replaces potassium-rich foods).